Tanzania plans to revive Kilimanjaro’s lost industrial glory by building new factories which collapsed in the 1990s.The move’s ultimate goal is to enhance the country’s economy.Kilimanjaro Region is one of administrative regions in Tanzania.
The regional Administrative Officer responsible for economic production, Mr. Simon Msoka, confirmed the reports and said that reviving Kilimanjaro’s lost industrial glory should always involve the private sector.
He further said that the move is being organized by the government and the private sector under a firm known as Equipment for Tanzania (Efta)
The Director of Efta, Mr. Clement Kwayu, was also pleased with the proposal and said that the firm would only lease machinery and not money for loans.
Acting Regional Manager for the Small Industries Development Organization (Sido), Ms Lilian Materu, urged entrepreneurs to utilise the opportunity saying that the new program to revive factories also covered small and medium scale plants.
Kilimanjaro used to be among the regions with most of the major factories in the country including the ones owned by the government. However, there were some dormant ones like the Tanzania Bag Corporation, Kilimanjaro Machine Tools Limited and a coffee curing plant among others.
TPC Limited, the oldest sugar plant in the country, is one of the few that are fully operational. It is one of Tanzania’s largest sugar estates and out of its 16,000 hectares of land; 8,000 hectares are used for sugar cane cultivation.
Factories are always a plus in any country as they enhance the economy and apart from that, they also create jobs for the citizens and reviving the sectors like the manufacturing factories could provide tens of millions of new jobs and also eradicate the Great Recession.
Recently Tanzania announced that it was constructing a US$ 100m roofing tile factory will to manufacture roofing tiles. It will be constructed by Chinese investors.
